Monday, September 06, 2010

Pricey Shrimp


Via: Canucklehead.

The sublime genius of the Democrat Party: a marvelous selection of headlines from Illinois certain to inspire voters around the country

Please consider the following news stories, which I believe amply demonstrate the infallible strategies of Democrat governance.

Chicago Sun-Times: 'Our state is $120.6 billion short':
[Illinois] papered over our annual budget deficits by borrowing, just as many people put off the day of reckoning by using credit cards. But the state now owes $85 billion in bond IOUs -- promises we've made to "pay later with interest." Our credit -- the ability to borrow -- has about maxed out. So we're not paying our bills. Not someday in the future but right now...

...Comptroller Dan Hynes, said recently the state owes $5 billion to schools, universities, child-care centers and rehab centers around the state. He calls it "obscene," telling the New York Times: "This is not some esoteric budget issue; we are not paying bills for absolutely essential services."

Daily Herald: Libertyville driver's license facility may be evicted:
A popular driver's license facility in Libertyville could be forced to close if the state doesn't pay four months in back rent within 45 days, the landlord said... Stephen Martin, whose family owns the Brookside shopping center on the 300 block of Peterson Road that houses the Secretary of State office, has sent a letter to state officials saying he wishes to terminate the lease agreement because of the long-overdue payments. Martin said the state owes him nearly $43,000 in back rent and expenses.

Galesburg Register-Mail: School officials skeptical of federal funding assistance:
The $415 million Illinois school districts will receive from the federal government to help save teachers’ jobs is meant to provide cash-strapped districts some relief... But while local districts would welcome the assistance, some are skeptical about whether that money will actually materialize, especially since the state still hasn’t made payments from last fiscal year...

Chicago Breaking News: Immigrant groups ask state to pay its bills:
A coalition of immigrant social service groups today called on state officials to pay the $7.4 million the groups are owed... The dozens of mostly community-based organizations that provide social services to immigrants are in the same boat as other Illinois vendors. The state owes more than $4.2 billion in unpaid bills, according to the Illinois comptroller's office...

...A survey conducted by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights found that of 42 immigrant groups polled, 22 won't be able to pay employees past October and could shut their doors.

Peoria Journal-Star: State owes $2.2 billion to feds for unemployment benefits:
Illinois has borrowed more than $2.2 billion from the federal government since July 2009 to pay unemployment benefits.

The good news is the state has not had to borrow since April, and the loan is interest-free for now... “We really do access it as needed. It’s a day-to-day decision, five days a week,” Illinois Department of Employment Security spokesman Greg Rivara said Thursday.

FavStocks: Pension System Responds to 'Death Spiral' Comments:
Please remove your post of Tyler Durden’s inaccurate analysis of the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System. It is not excellent. It is wrong... TRS is not in a death spiral. We’ll still be operating and paying pensions for years to come.

We could potentially sell $3 billion in assets if the Illinois General Assembly does not come up with its annual contribution to TRS. The state owes us $2.35 billion...

Now for the palette cleanser: the same posse of geniuses running Illinois are now controlling the entire federal bureaucracy.


With 100% of the felon and deceased voting blocs in hand, SEIU wants amnesty for illegal aliens to add 8 million new Democrats to the rolls

A Labor Day reminder from NewsBusters: earlier this year, an SEIU executive stated that amnesty for illegal immigrants would 8 million new Democrat voters to the base.

If there are some old time, traditional JFK Democrats out there, they must be feeling a little overwhelmed. They are joined by the Democrat Socialists of America, ACORN, the SEIU, La Raza, CPUSA (Communist Party USA), the New Black Panthers, and various front groups funded by one-world globalists like George Soros.

There are no moderate Democrats any more. The party has ceased operating as a legitimate and lawful entity, because virtually every segment of its constituency is devoted, using one means or another, to the eradication of the United States Constitution.

And I dare anyone to challenge me on that.


Related: Study Confirms: Felons, Illegal Aliens (aka Undocumented Democrats) and Zombies elected Al Franken to U.S. Senate.

What will hyperinflation mean for us when it arrives in the United States? We look to Chile under the Allende government for answers.

The piper must be paid. Unchecked printing of money and record-setting deficit spending can't continue. In fact, they represent a bubble of sorts, not unlike the housing bubble or the tech boom.

The Democrat-led government's rapacious cycle of tax, borrow and spend will end, come hell or high water, in the not-too-distant future. And how will this inevitable crash begin? What will happen when the value of the dollar plummets to zero, as it must as surely as gravity pulls a thrown baseball back to Earth?

Gonzalo Lira's family lived through a similar economic meltdown in the early 1970's, precipitated by the election of Salvador Allende in Chile. His election was a fluke, as two opposing parties split the centrist and right-wing blocs, leaving Allende with slightly more than a third of the electorate.

He became the first "democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in the Americas" and he aggressively moved to implement "reforms", which were intended to "put Chile on the road to Socialism".

Companies were nationalized, land was confiscated, and mines were taken over by the government, all in the name of wealth redistribution. Ostensibly these industries and properties were now owned by "the workers". In reality, of course, Allende's friends and supporters were placed in powerful oversight roles within the government and in the companies themselves.

Allende saw himself as a 'Supreme Leader' -- a South American Lenin, if you will -- and he acted with dictatorial control over every aspect of the economy. Possibly his most important directives were those that implemented wage and price controls. These populist efforts were designed to curry favor with the workers in two ways:

• The price of basic goods and services were frozen

• Workers' wages were increased by decree

For a brief period of time the population enjoyed the bonanza. Citizens had more money and prices were held artificially low. Of course, like all central planning exercises, the effort ended in disaster.

Soon retailers and warehouses had been emptied of goods as the consumer base used its new-found wealth to go on a massive shopping spree. Once stores had been emptied, Allende immediately blamed right-wing, anti-Marxist "hoarders" for the failures of his policies.

The economic meltdown was also hastened by the demise of most private sector companies. After all, Allende had forced them to raise wages while constricting their ability to properly price their wares. As companies declared bankruptcy, Allende's government quickly nationalized them "in the name of the people."

If the companies continued to operate at a loss, which most did, the government supported them by printing money to make up the shortfall.

And this is how Chile's hyperinflation began. There was no shortage of cash, but it quickly became worthless, because goods and services had disappeared.

Allende was soon forced to implement rationing. As expected, his party loyalists controlled how ration cards were issued, and these cards determined who could buy consumer goods and food stables. Those deemed unfriendly to Allende did not find ration cards forthcoming, especially if they were vocal in opposing the Marxist government.

As it always does, a free market -- in the form of a black market -- quickly constructed itself to address the inequities. But the shadow markets were more finicky about the currency they accepted: Sólo dólares ("Dollars only").

It was at this point that hyperinflation truly began.

It manifested itself in the form of a "collapse in asset prices"; in other words, deflation hit assets while hyperinflation took place for the absolutely necessary items in life.

The reason was simple: basic necessities like food were increasingly unaffordable. Stock prices, cars, second homes, and other "nice to have" items were immediately sacrificed in order to address the most critical needs.

And so it was in 1972 through 1973 that the Chilean stock market collapsed, the housing market tanked and the price of used automobiles plummeted. Citizens had to cash out of their assets to survive and some simply bought their way out of the country altogether.

A military coup soon toppled Allende and his Marxist government. With it, free market reforms and a new currency regime were implemented. After years of excruciating Marxist failures, Chile slowly began to heal itself.

But the lessons remain for us, here in America, as we watch our own Cloward-Piven government tiptoe to the edge of the Allende experiment.


Is Ours 'The Weakest Generation'?

"...These [health care] negotiations will be on C-SPAN, and so the public will be part of the conversation and will see the decisions that are being made...” (Barack Obama, 1/20/2008)

...[I want] to repeal some of these tax breaks for these oil companies. But I want to do more than that. I also want to go after their windfall profits, take a segment of those profits..." (Barack Obama, 3/3/2008)

"...Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket..." (Barack Obama, 11/1/2008)

"...“I really do believe President Bush is the worst president we’ve ever had..." (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), 1/4/2009)

"...We will launch a sweeping effort to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending in our government, and every American will be able to see how and where we spend taxpayer dollars..." (Barack Obama, 1/28/2009)

"...Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards..." (Attorney General Eric Holder, 2/18/2009)

"...We don't believe it makes sense to significantly subsidize the production and use of sources of energy (like oil and gas) that are dramatically going to add to our climate change (problem)..." (Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, 3/5/2009)

"...Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration..." (Department of Homeland Security report to Janet Napolitano, 4/12/2009)

"...in early January, when Barack Obama was still President-elect, two of his chief economic advisers — leading proponents of a stimulus bill — predicted that the passage of a large economic-aid package would boost the economy and keep the unemployment rate below 8%. It hasn't quite worked out that way..." (Time Magazine, 7/2/2009)

"...right now drug companies are fighting so that they can keep essentially their patents on their brand-name drugs a lot longer... every time we come close to passing health insurance reform, the special interests fight back with everything they've got." (Barack Obama, 8/11/2009)

"...When CNSNews.com asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday where the Constitution authorized Congress to order Americans to buy health insurance--a mandate included in both the House and Senate versions of the health care bill--Pelosi dismissed the question by saying: “Are you serious? Are you serious?”..." (CNS News, 8/23/2009)

"...the White House has been taken aback by the intense criticism from political opponents and local officials of Holder’s decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a civilian courtroom in New York..." (Washington Post, 2/11/2010)

"...But we have to pass the [health care] bill so that you can find out what is in it..." (Nancy Pelosi, 3/9/2010)

"...[President] Obama and his health secretary staged a two-pronged attack Monday in a stern letter to health insurance chief executives and a speech in which the president castigated insurance companies 22 times...." (Washington Post, 3/9/2010)

"...once upon a time they taught that under the U.S. Constitution a bill had to pass both the House and Senate to become law. Until this week, that is, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi is moving to merely 'deem' that the House has passed the Senate health-care bill and then send it to President Obama to sign anyway..." (Wall Street Journal, 3/16/2010)

"...I don't care about the Constitution when it comes to this [health care bill]..." (Rep. Phil Hare (D-IL), 4/2/2010)

"...The president's top counterterrorism adviser on Wednesday called jihad a "legitimate tenet of Islam," arguing that the term "jihadists" should not be used to describe America's enemies... The comment comes after Brennan, in a February speech in which he described his respect for the tolerance and devotion of Middle Eastern nations, referred to Jerusalem... by its Arabic name, Al-Quds..." (Fox News, 5/27/2010)

"...As solicitor general of the United States, Elena Kagan argued in front of the Supreme Court that the federal government had the constitutional authority to ban certain political pamphlets. She also strongly implied that some political books, if they were partisan enough, could also be censored..." (Reason Magazine, 6/29/2010)

"...The financial regulation bill that President Obama will sign into law on Wednesday is supposed to clean up Wall Street. But an obscure passage buried deep in the 2,300-page legislation... could have a broad impact [on] electronics companies..." (Washington Post, 7/2/2010)

"...The federal government filed a lawsuit Tuesday aimed at blocking a controversial Arizona law that requires local police and sheriffs to question and arrest anyone whom they suspect is in the country illegally..." (Politico, 7/7/2010)

"...Less than two months after the US Department of Justice sued Arizona over the state’s controversial immigration law, it has filed another lawsuit targeting immigration practices by Arizona authorities... the [DOJ] says Phoenix-area Maricopa Community Colleges (MCC) discriminated against almost 250 noncitizen job applicants by requiring them to fill out more documents than the law requires to prove their eligibility to work...." (Christian Science Monitor, 8/31/2010)
You don't have to ride on a treacherous, unlit cow path from the north-side of Boston to Lexington as the King's Regulars attempt a surprise attack on the Sons of Liberty.

You don't have to board a frigate, sail for weeks across the Atlantic and then sack a city in Tripoli to rescue your imprisoned countrymen.

You don't have to kill a British soldier in a desperate, hand-to-hand struggle after leaping out of a boat on the beach at York during the War of 1812.

You don't have to hold the line against Pickett's desperate charge at Gettysburg as thousands of wounded men shriek bloody murder around you.

You don't have to resist a vicious attack by the Hun with fixed bayonets at Belleau Wood.

You don't have to survive a terrifying duck-boat run onto Omaha Beach as men around you are being chopped to bits by fortified Nazi gun emplacements.

You don't have to liberate the Nazi Death Camps, capping months of brutal fighting and desperate marching through the dirt roads of Europe.

You don't have to withstand a surprise attack by the Chinese 'People's Volunteer Army', fighting to hold the line in 35°-below-zero temperatures for days on end near the Chosin Reservoir.

You don't have to defend the city of Huế from a surprise attack by Viet Cong and PAVN regulars, fighting block-to-block as the entire country is set afire by the Tet Offensive.

You don't have to race across the desert, waiting for a chemical attack or a Scud missile to hit, baking in 130° temperatures, so that you can expel Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard from Kuwait.

You don't have to patrol a patch of hard-scrabble earth in Aghanistan or Iraq, waiting for the inevitable IED by the side of the road -- or signs that you've rolled right into an ambush by heavily-armed 'insurgents' equipped with Iranian RPGs.

You don't have to do any of those things. You just have to vote in November. You just have to take the time to rally your neighbors, your family members and your co-workers to vote for candidates who believe in the Constitution. You must marshal voters who will reject the out-of-control, free-spending government that has brought our country to the edge of bankruptcy.

Because if the Constitution doesn't mean anything, if all of the founders' sacrifices went for naught, if all of those American heroes who fought and bled and died for the flag mean nothing, if all your parents and grandparents gave you doesn't amount to a hill of beans, well, then our generation will be forever known as the weak-willed group that let the American dream slip from our fingers.

And we will be known forever as the generation that allowed American exceptionalism to be stolen from us by a radical leftist from San Francisco, a crooked, power-hungry weasel of a man from Nevada, and an Alinsky-trained community organizer who rose to the presidency without qualifications or even so much as a background check by the media.

You don't have to bleed for your country. All you have to do is rally our forces to vote in November. That is what we can do and that is what we must do to preserve this Republic for future generations.


Larwyn's Linx: Our Dying Constitution

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

Our Dying Constitution: AT
New evidence undermines feds' case against Arizona: York
About Time; SC County GOP Censures Lindsey Graham: GWP

How come this WV race isn't getting more attention?: Ace
My Shocking Theory On The Delaware Primary: LegalIns
What a Deal: The Ground Zero Mosque Building Sale: JWF

Leftists, Islamists Call For Destruction of Israel... in DC: RWN
Washington’s Self-Anointed Dieties: PJM
Time for Alan Grayson to Go: RWN

Economy

The Public Education Scandal: AT
Here's the real problem with labor unions: Insider
Granholm to Obama: 'I hope you know what you're doing': BlogProf

Thanks, Barack: US Growth Expected to Dip Below 1%: GWP
$52,900 a year for Yale: Back to School: Kimball
Seton Hall's Support for Illegal Immigration: Wizbang

Climate & Energy

There is just one answer to the farming question: RWN
Climate Omaha Hi-Lo. Who’s All-In? I Call: CBullitt
Green Money Laundering: AT

Media

Professor Clinton, Professor Obama: Doswell
Do It Once, Shame on Him. Do It Twice, Shame on You.: Moonbattery
Monica Crowley Smacks Down Eleanor Clift Over Racism in the Tea Party: NewsBusters

New York Times Slams Mosque Opponents in Report on 'Tangible Progress at World Trade Center': AmPower
The Rise of the Fringe: Wizbang
Kristof: 70% of New Yorkers and Americans in General are Hateful, Hysterical Xenophobes: TAB

World

UK: Hezbollah Supporters and Their Leftist Allies Stage al-Quds Day Protest in London: WZ
Islamization of Paris Gets Obvious: Moonbattery
Muslims and Hispanic illegals: Can we judge the present by the past?: STACLU

September 11th Rally in NYC: Stop the Ground Zero Mosque: Atlas
How to fight radical Islam: Ledeen
Venezuela introduces Cuba-like food card: JWF

SciTech

The ad that uses YouTube brilliantly: CNet
Google settles Buzz lawsuit for $8.5 mln: Maktoob
VMware customers cast a wary glance at Microsoft's virtualization tools: NetworkWorld

Cornucopia

Taking Action: Moonbattery
Sports Anchor Heroically Dunks On Small Child, Again: SportsGrid
Don't Forget It's International Bacon Day: SondraK

Hot Drinks: Wendy's Training Video from 1992: YouTube
How About Some Johnny to Start the Week?: Ace
Best Cry Ever: VB&F

Image: Weasel Zippers.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Help Kick Harry Reid Out of Office!

QOTD: "Every Democrat elected to the House of Representatives will vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker." -- Grand Old Partisan


Sunday, September 05, 2010

USA vs. Iran basketball: American cheerleaders forced to wear long pants in a 'nod to Muslim law'

It would appear that the terrorists won.

USA defeated Iran in basketball today, which comes as a surprise to no one. What may raise a few eyebrows: team dancers were forced to wear long pants in a “nod to Muslim law"...

One interesting tidbit that arose from the game: the cheerleaders were forced to cover up.

[In} a nod to the Iranian supporters in Istanbul — which included minister of sports Ali Saeedlou earlier in the tournament — dancers were ordered to cover up for their performances during the game. Islam prohibits women from exposing their skin in public, and Iranian officials had turned their backs when the dancers performed in earlier games.

The dancers wore long pants Wednesday.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was seen in the front row gleefully clapping for the cheerleaders, who wore niqabs that covered all body parts except for the eyes.

Okay. I made that part up.


Hat tip: NewsBusters.

Pr·i·us In·sur·rec·tion

American Digest relays the following photo, which was apparently snapped by a Legal Insurrection reader at the Grand Canyon.

The closeups are even better.




Don't bother looking for the 'peace' or 'coexist' signs.





Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Top Ten Signs We're Still in the Summer o' Recovery

Click to enbiggen.

Perhaps President Obama could start the Middle East Peace Process by halting the slaughter of Shiite Muslims by Sunni Muslims

Please consider the following headlines from the last three days.

Tension abounds in Pakistani city as Shiites bury bombing victims: Islamabad - Pakistan's south-western city of Quetta was tense Saturday as minority Shiite Muslims buried victims of a suicide bombing that killed over 70 innocent people...

Afghanistan: Taliban Behead Man Because He Was a Shia Muslim…: A Shia man [was] beheaded by Taliban in Sai Ganj area of Ghazni... [Also about] a month ago, 10 Hazara Shia from Jaghori district of Ghazni were beheaded by Taliban. They were mostly students on their way to homes for summer vocations from Kabul. Taliban kidnapped them in Muqur area and found student ID cards from them. They were all slaughtered...

Bahraini Radical Authorities Ban Shia Muslims Peaceful Quds Rally: Shia Muslim annual march in support of the Palestinian Intifada was yesterday cancelled by Bahraini bigot authorities...

Taliban threaten attacks in America, Europe and [on] Shia Muslims: The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) threatened on Friday to launch attacks in the US and Europe “very soon”...

Saudi Arabia: Gunmen attack Masjid in Riyadh: Three men, including an imam, have been injured in a shooting which occurred at a mosque following late night Ramadan prayers in the Saudi city of Riyadh...

HRW urges Bahrain to investigate torture against Shia activists: Human Rights Watch has urged Bahraini authorities to immediately look into allegations of torture made by four Shiite activists in detention since mid-August...

Before we worry about peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, perhaps President Obama should extend his outreach to the Muslim world community by brokering some kind of peace deal between the Shiite and Sunni sects.



Larwyn's Linx: "The Palin-haters' guilt-by-association smear"

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

"The Palin-haters' guilt-by-association smear": sisu
Palin Derangement Syndrome: There are Five A’s in Raaaaacism: RSM
Perspective, boys... perspective: Levin

Smartest Prez in History Botches Rug Quotes: Lifson
Zounds: Harry Reid's son trails by 25 points: HAP
Six Ways to Lose Your Election: WashExam

Economy

How Unions Prevent Kids from Learning in L.A.: GWP
Summer of Recovery Ends; Epic Fail Fall Begins: AT
'Organized' Crime: New Criterion (McCarthy)

Angry White Man Screeches About $13T Deficit!: Ace
Dissolving Cities: Is It the Way Out?: Mish
California snubs 'Columbia' free trade: Hot Air

First Lady's Aides Warned Her About Image on Spain Trip: WashExam
And... She's Back!: JOM
Higher Education Bubble Poised to Burst: Barone

Media

NRO sells out Delaware conservatives: Riehl
L.A. Times Profile on Breitbart: Shocking: Patterico
The Two-Word Reason Most Americans Want Term Limits: Hindenblog

NYT: Congrats, USA No Longer a Superpower!: RWN
He Is What We Said He Was: RWN
Obama Rug Quotes: Protein Wisdom

Interesting Gambit: C&S
‘If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Attack Freedom of Speech’: Driscoll
'Machete' Review: Dull, Racist, Un-American Garbage: Big Hollywood

World

GZ Mosque Backer Linked To Hamas, As Islam Goes To The Fair: Riehl
Open Letter to Hillary Clinton: Fire the Imam
British ObamaCare update: Hospital produces instructional handwashing video for doctors and nurses: Marathon

Afghanistan: Taliban Behead Man Because He Was a Shia Muslim…: WZ
Geller: Why There Shouldn't Be a Mosque at Ground Zero: JihadWatch
Speaker Pelosi: Stand Up for Muslim Women, Not Islamists Like Rauf!: Alliance of Iranian Women

SciTech

Venus Balloon Probe to Visit Chemically Violent World: PJM
Oh Look. Another 419 Scam.: Sophos
Children of the Weaker God: Belmont Club

Cornucopia

Obama Responds to Critics with New White House Tapestry: Cube
Class: Don’t Leave Home Without it : MOTUS
Loading and Unloading Your Semi-Auto Pistol; Courtesy of Ruger Firearms: True Blue Sam

70-Year Old of the Day: Surber
Drunken Kitteh: Ace
Brawl Breaks Out at Bodybuilding Competition: BlogProf

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Christine O'Donnell for U.S. Senate: Boot Mike Castle!

Saturday, September 04, 2010

Cook County's Democrook Party: $7M in mystery checks issued, CFO gets herself a $54K raise and county budget deficit set to top $500M

At some point, Chicago's beleaguered taxpayers are going to be pushed too far. It's amazing that they haven't already violently rebelled against the Democrat Party. Democrats have raped and pillaged the public coffers in Illinois for decades.

The Daily Herald's Ted Cox describes the latest Cook County debacle in "Stroger again skirts board OK in payments."

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's administration acknowledged Wednesday that 25 checks worth more than $6.7 million were paid out before receiving the required board approval... Democratic Chicago Commissioner John Daley, head of the finance committee, said, "I'm very concerned that this is a true violation of the board's intent."

Chief Financial Officer Jaye Williams said she could not release the names of the persons who authorized the checks, as an investigation is ongoing, but she said some employees had been "removed" from their positions and disciplinary measures were being "contemplated."

...after a summer of tussling with Stroger over [new] contracts and hirings, promotions and raises he granted as a lame duck, it raised more suspicion among the commissioners, who went on to pass an ordinance smoothing the transition from Stroger to the next president... Stroger will be required to ... guarantee access to records.

A commenter at the Chicago Sun-Times website claims the mystery check writer was none other than Stroger appointee and Cook County comptroller Constance Kravitz.

The county's finance committee also includes (you guessed it) a Daley family member and the wife of a public school apparatchik. Her name is Jaye Williams, who is the aforementioned CFO, and she hit the headlines a few months ago for somehow getting Stroger to give her a $54,000-a-year raise despite a deficit that could top half a billion dollars.

The raise for Williams, which boosted her salary to $230,000, was one of several Stroger has handed out since his primary election loss in February... Others who received raises were Communications Director Eugene Mullins, who is Stroger’s boyhood friend, and Carla Oglesby, a publicist who managed the failed campaign.

Stroger said earlier in the week he had suspended Oglesby without pay until the conclusion of an inspector general’s investigation... That probe was launched after it was revealed that the company owned by Oglesby, whose salary was boosted from $116,000 to $120,000, had been awarded a $24,775 contract by Stroger’s administration just days after she was hired.

That contract fell just under the $25,000 threshold required for County Board approval. Stroger’s administration also gave a $24,995 contract to a Maryland campaign consultant who was brought in before the election to straighten out Stroger’s campaign fund.

The County Board Finance Committee had asked to receive a report on the raises by today, but agreed to a delay as the administration double-checked its list, said Commissioner John Daley, D-Chicago, the committee’s chairman.

You read that right. After he lost the election, Stroger appears to have spent his lame-duck tenure doling out favors at taxpayer expense.

Oh. And losing control of millions of dollars, which I'm sure is all perfectly explainable. Along with leading a budgeting process that leaves the taxpayers $500 million in the hole.

Aren't Democrats fun?


Zero Hedge: Pelosi, Obama and Reid have helped erase or destroy... 11.2 million jobs since the recession began

Tyler Durden does the number-crunching the legacy media won't do and describes the true economic toll of the Pelosi-Obama-Reid triumvirate.

One of the most peculiar observations of this depression started in December 2007 is that while the total US population has increased by 6.8 million from 303.3 million to just over 310 million in July 2010, over the same 32 month period, the civilian labor force has declined from 153.9 million to 153.6 million...

This makes zero sense, as all those aging into working age, or immigrating into the US need to find some job or some other paid activity (either legally or illegally). But let's assume that due to discouragement with economic conditions people simply refuse to look for jobs... [based upon our calculations] the cumulative differential between the labor force as reported, and as calculated has hit an all time record of 3.7 million: this is a number that has to be added to the 7.6 million directly tabulated unemployed to get a sense of just how many jobs have been lost assuming a reversion to the mean for the US economy...

Chart 1: we demonstrate the cumulative change in the population of the US, the cumulative change in the as reported and the as calculated labor force, and the difference between the two (thick black line).

In other words, after eliminating the statistical voodoo of the BEA and the Census Bureau, the US has lost just over 11.2 million jobs since the start of the recession.

Chart 2: Cumulative job losses since December 2007, based on Establishment Survey estimates and adjusted for Labor Force "Catch Up"

'Saved or created' my left cheek.


Somewhere, John McCain just high-fived Russ Feingold: Democrats Move One Step Closer to Banning Certain Political Books

The Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee just filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, arguing that marketing a book violates election law.

The "Young Guns" have a book. They also have a promotion tour and a video. Now, the Democrats could engage in a battle of ideas. But that’s not what they do. (are you surprised?)

...What is the mechanism? The publisher posts a  video by the authors about their book that contains a link to a website that takes political contributions. It is after all, a political manifesto.

...Democrats use the power of the federal government to attempt to prohibit the political speech and promotion of speech by their political enemies. That’s the kind of thing that lead to the American Revolution. Tea Parties make perfect sense in this context.

This sort of thing shouldn't come as a surprise. After all, new Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan (thanks, Goober Graham!) believes banning books and movies is a perfectly acceptable practice.

Elena Kagan argued on behalf of Citizens United essentially stating it would not be a violation of the First Amendment to have movies or even books banned. Of course, she only meant certain movies/books for specific times, but even so, I believe the point remains... all tyrants find a pretext for their tyranny.

The ill-named DISCLOSE Act was a similar effort. Its goal was to suppress free speech by conservatives, while leaving unions and other Democrat supporters unscathed.

The Disclose Act that House Democrats passed Thursday would "shred" the U.S. Constitution and represents a "blatant partisan maneuver to protect their incumbency," according to U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President R. Bruce Josten... Only two Republicans voted for the act: Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao of Louisiana and Rep. Michael Castle of Delaware...

...Groups opposing the measure span the political continuum, including the ACLU, the Sierra Club, PIRG (the federation of state public interest research groups), the chamber and many others... The chamber recently called the bill a "desperate attempt" by Democrats to grab a political advantage in the midterm elections.

The act requires companies and associations to submit a mountain of paperwork to the Federal Election Commission if they want to run an ad.

Of course, the progenitor of these unconstitutional efforts was John McCain. Partnering with a far left Social Democrat, Russ Feingold, McCain led the effort to pass The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.

The bill is better known as McCain-Feingold or, as I like to call it, "The Incumbent Protection Act". It banned, among other things, political ads funded by corporations in the 30 days before a presidential primary and in the 60 days before the general election. In January of this year, the Supreme Court -- by a narrow 5-4 margin -- ruled large swaths of the law unconstitutional.

The ruling was a vindication, the majority said, of the First Amendment’s most basic free speech principle — that the government has no business regulating political speech. The dissenters said allowing corporate money to flood the political marketplace will corrupt democracy.

“If the First Amendment has any force,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority, which included the four members of its conservative wing, “it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech.”

But let's not forget that John McCain and the National Social Democrat Party helped open Pandora's Box to egregious violations of the First Amendment by Congress.

When the federal government can ban movies, when it can ban books, when it can tell you what you can and can't say, then we are no longer living in the Constitutional Republic our founders created.

Oh, and thanks, "Maverick".


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